The Use of –ra and –se Past Subjunctive Forms in Educated Written Spanish. Issue 8 (September 2016) - Sorenson, Travis
Abstract : The forms – ra and – se, almost without exception, are interchangeable variants of the Spanish past subjunctive. Less equal is their modern distribution, in which – ra enjoys a sizeable advantage, particularly in speech, in the parts of the Spanish-speaking world where it has been empirically studied. This study examines the current frequency of these forms in the writing of educated native speakers in the capital cities of 20 Spanish-speaking countries, thus allowing for a comprehensive geographic perspective of – ra /– se heretofore nonexistent. Other synchronic and diachronic studies of this phenomenon are reviewed, their data in some cases compared with those of the present study. Such considerations not only permit insight into shifts in the distribution of – ra /– se over time, but reveal current contrasts in their use depending on variables such as spoken versus written language, different genres and registers employed in the written word, the sex of the writers, the existence of both subjunctive and non-subjunctive uses in the data, and, perhaps most importantly, dialectal differences.